Thursday

Jan 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2008 at 11:45 AM

Super Bowl XXXVI will be remembered for the normal craziness of New Orleans, for a stunning Superdome tribute to the 9/11 victims, for a shocking victory by the upstart New England Patriots. No one remembers seeing Josh McDaniels there.

Super Bowl XXXVI will be remembered for the normal craziness of New Orleans, for a stunning Superdome tribute to the 9/11 victims, for a shocking victory by the upstart New England Patriots.
No one remembers seeing Josh McDaniels there.
The Patriots fielded one request that week to interview McDaniels, then the newest kid on Bill Belichick’s coaching block.
That was just seven years after McDaniels played in the 100th McKinley-Massillon game as the Canton high school’s quarterback.
Six years have passed. Now, everyone is looking for McDaniels.
All the Washington D.C.-area reporters want McDaniels to confess he will interview for the Redskins head coaching opening.
He politely answers wave after wave, never revealing more than this: “If that happens to be the case, we’ll deal with that after the Super Bowl.”
National writers want a piece of McDaniels. In one interview, Sports Illustrated’s Paul Zimmerman and Peter King competed for his attention.
Another writer blurted this one McDaniels has answered unflinchingly in his new role as media star: “I’d have crapped my pants if I’d had to do what you’re doing at your age? How do you do it?”
McDaniels’ response: “I don’t consider myself a kid. I’m sure the players don’t, either. ... I learned a long time ago that if you’re prepared and what you’re presenting is well thought out and has a very solid reason to it, when you present it to them, they eat it up.”
It’s hard not to look at McDaniels as a kid. He’ll turn 32 in April.
A writer who will vote in Saturday’s Pro Football Hall of Fame election left after 30 minutes at McDaniels’ interview table Wednesday saying, “He’s amazing.”
By comparison, Giants Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride is 56.
Pittsburgh’s Bruce Arians is 55. San Diego’s Clarence Shelmon is 55. Tom Moore of the Colts is 69.
McDaniels’ 2006 debut as offensive coordinator produced a 12-4 record. His second year yielded an NFL record for points scored and an unbeaten record.
Apparently, he’s a pretty sharp kid.
“He looks like my little brother,” said tight end Ben Watson, a first-round draft pick in 2004, when the Patriots won a Super Bowl with McDaniels coaching quarterbacks. “But he’s really smart.”
Burly, bearded lineman Logan Mankins arrived in 2005, after Charlie Weis left for Notre Dame and McDaniels basically auditioned for the coordinator title.
“He might be young,” Mankins said, “but we respect Josh a lot. ... He knows what he’s talking about. He gives us a hard time if he feels we didn’t do a good job in practice.”
Supertstar receiver Randy Moss admits McDaniels’ boyish appearance alarmed him when he joined the Patriots in April.
“For a guy to be so young, you don’t think he really has a lot of things to teach,” Moss said. “Now ... we come in and have fun, but when it’s time to really get down to business, Josh demands your attention. Every guy is attentive. Every guy has a pen and pad.”
McDaniels is in his fourth Super Bowl with the Patriots, in his fourth different job.
- In 2001, he broke down film and did all the dirty work.
- In 2003, he helped Romeo Crennel’s defensive backs.
- In 2004, he was Tom Brady’s position coach.
Being an offensive coordinator this time, he concedes, is “exciting,” but the climb was fun, too.
“My dad always told me, ‘Do the job that you have as well as you can, and everything else in life’s gonna fall in place,” he said.
McDaniels’ father, Thom, was his coach at McKinley and now is head coach at Massillon Jackson High School. They always have been close and continue to talk regularly.
When Josh played at McKinley, Belichick was head coach of the Browns. Thom McDaniels liked Belichick when no one else did. In fact, select Belichick quotes found their way to the locker room walls at Fawcett Stadium.
“I don’t recall what Bill was like then,” Josh McDaniels said. “I was definitely a Browns fan. I wouldn’t say that was the only team I liked.
“I wasn’t thinking I’d end up in the NFL. I always dreamed of being a high school and college coach. It so happened I got a chance to do this, and I won’t ever turn back.”
Looking ahead, he said what he’s been saying for years as to a future as a head coach:
“I think I’d like to do that.”
Reach Canton Repository sports writer Steve Doerschuk at (330) 580-8347 or steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com.

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